Regulating ethics in financial services: Engaging industry to achieve regulatory objectives

This article addresses the issue of renewing a sense of vocation in finance. Drawing on experiences in the UK, Australia, and Ireland, three common law jurisdictions at various phases of developing “an ethical esprit de corps” to professionalize the banking industry, it argues that adopting some aspects of a profession, a “trajectory towards professionalization” of the banking industry, could serve, at least to some extent, to improve the industry-wide norms that influence firms' cultures and individual behaviors. It contends that professionalization could help to develop bankers with a professional, pro-social identity, in which there is a recognition of broader obligations to society, that exists independently of the profit-driven nature of banking and the hierarchy of their own firms. This analysis is informed by an integration of regulatory theory, which casts doubt on the utility of sanctions except as a last resort, behavioral science, which offers insights into how ethics and culture, not just law and markets, can constrain irresponsible behavior in the financial services sector, and criminological theory, which emphasizes that particular types of controls, including individual attachments to groups, build “stakes in conformity” which encourage law abiding and responsible behaviors.     

Theoretical Perspectives on Post-Migration Adaptation and Psychological Well-Being among Refugees: Towards a Resource-Based Model

Research on the psychological well-being of refugees has focusedon deficiencies within individuals either in terms of psychiatricsymptoms or feelings of distress. To achieve a more holisticview of the life experiences of refugees, we need to look atthe limitations of our current theoretical models. This articlecritically examines some of the major theoretical approachesthat have guided research on the psychological well-being ofrefugees: the medical model, the psychosocial stress model andBerry's (1997) ‘acculturation framework’. It goeson to examine Hobfoll's (2001) Conservation of Resources stresstheory, a model which has important implications for refugeeresearch. Drawing upon the models reviewed, the last sectionoutlines a conceptual framework for adaptation among refugees.At the heart of it lies the concept of resources. However, resourcesmust be understood in terms of the individual's needs, personalgoals and the demands he or she encounters. Each of these conceptsmust be examined in the context of the pre-migration, flightand post-migration phases. The additional concept of constraintson the use of or access to resources is particularly relevantto the post-migration phase. Such a conceptual toolkit couldprove especially useful in going beyond quantitative data topresent the human stories of refugees. It could also sensitizeresearchers to the impact of host societies on the well-beingof refugees.     

A study of the operationalization of management controls in United Kingdom Private Finance Initiative contracts

Utilizing evidence from a United Kingdom (UK) road case study Private Finance Initiative (PFI) project, this article considers how the UK central government's infrastructure strategy is operationalized through accounting-based performance measures and incentive systems, and articulates how the adoption of such systems is moderated by trust practices. The findings indicate that initial government policy objectives, translated as performance indicators in the case study, failed to offer adequate incentives for contractors and created tensions. However, controls were later developed through inter-party trust practices for managing performance and relational risk. These findings have important implications for PFI policy and practice, including that negotiation can: (i) lead to pragmatic controls being introduced to foster cooperation and trust-building; and (ii) provide opportunities for adapting the monitoring and incentive mechanisms. This study also contributes to the previous literature where PFI control systems were largely regarded as inadequate for dealing with unforeseen conflicts between parties.     

Denying Citizens Their Rights? Indigenous People,Mining Payments and Service Provision

Indigenous Australians have a growing capacity to extract monetary payments from mineral development on their traditional lands. Considerable controversy surrounds the possible use of these payments to fund services such as health, housing and education for the Indigenous groups concerned. Critics of such an approach argue that government should provide basic public services to all citizens, and that use of 'mining payments' for service provision denies Indigenous people specific compensation for the negative impacts of mining and an important opportunity to enhance their economic status. There is also a danger that government may reduce its existing spending on services, leaving Indigenous people no better off as a result of allowing mining to occur. This article argues that while there are certainly risks involved in using mining payments to fund services, Indigenous groups can generate substantial net benefits by doing so. Mining payments can leverage additional government spending; fund services at a level or of a sort that government will not provide; give Indigenous people greater control over service provision; and help develop Indigenous organisational skills and governance capacity. A strategic approach is required to minimise risk and maximise the available benefits, and the article identifies policy principles that can be applied to secure such an outcome.     

Virtual Humanity—Access,Empathy and Objectivity in VR Film Making

ABSTRACT

This scene setting considers the meaning of immersive technologies for humanitarian encounters, particularly 360 degree video “virtual reality” film making. Drawing on scholarship on the political economy of technology, aesthetics, affect and visual securitisation, as well as a number of notable deployments of VR films as a tool for NGO and IGO project fundraising, it will consider the interchange between immersion, emotion and action within VR as humanitarian praxis, and what kind of politics this may produce. In particular, the article considers the UNICEF film “Clouds Over Sidra” and the African Parks co-sponsored film “The Protectors” which highlight not only the utility of the technology in creating immersive experiences for audiences and donors but also some of the broader politics of empathy and authorial control arising from a visual technology that purports to allow audiences a more objective “see for yourself” style experience.